Montezuma (opera)
Montezuma is an opera in three acts by the American composer Roger Sessions, with an English libretto by Giuseppe Antonio Borgese that incorporates bits of the Aztec language, Nahuatl, as well as Spanish, Latin, and French.[1]
Performance history
Montezuma was first performed on 19 April 1964 at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin, in a German translation.
The American premiere (and the first performance with the original English libretto) was given on 31 March 1976 by the Opera Company of Boston, conducted by Sarah Caldwell. The cast included Richard Lewis (Montezuma), Alexander Stevenson (Bernal Díaz del Castillo, the Young), Donald Gramm (Bernal Díaz del Castillo, the Old), Brent Ellis (Cortez), Phyllis Bryn-Julson (Malinche), Alan Crofoot (Jerónimo Aguilar/veteran), and Eunice Alberts as Cuaximatl.[2]
The New York City premiere was given in February, 1982 by the Juilliard American Opera Center, conducted by Frederik Prausnitz.[3] Bernal was sung by Robert Keefe, Cortez by James Dietsch, Alvarado by Cornelius Sullivan, Montezuma by Robert Grayson, and Malinche by Hei-Kyung Hong.[4] The scenery was designed by Ming Cho Lee and the lighting was by Beverly Emmons.
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere Cast 19 April 1964[5] (Conductor: Heinrich Hollreiser) |
|---|---|---|
| Bernal Díaz del Castillo, the Old | bass | Ernst Krukowski |
| Bernal Díaz del Castillo, the Young | tenor | Karl Ernst Mercker |
| Cacamatzin | tenor | Martin Vantin |
| Cuauhtemoc[6] | baritone | Barry McDaniel |
| Cuaximatl | mezzo-soprano | Yonako Nagano |
| Fray Olmedo de la Merced | bass | Manfred Röhrl |
| Guidela | baritone | |
| Hernán Cortez | baritone | William Dooley |
| Itlamal | soprano | Marina Türke |
| Malinche | soprano | Annabelle Bernard |
| Jeronimo Aguilar | baritone | Walter Dicks |
| Montezuma | tenor | Helmut Melchert |
| Netzahualcoyotl | bass | Martti Talvela |
| Passer-by 1 | baritone | Wilhelm Lang |
| Passer-by 2 | baritone | Robert Koffmane |
| Pedro de Alvarado | tenor | Loren Driscoll |
| A Soldier of Cortez's Army | tenor | Cornelis van Dijk |
| Teuhtlilli, an ambassador of Montezuma | tenor | Helmut Krebs |
| Veteran | baritone | Hanns Heinz Nissen |
Reception
Former British Prime Minister Edward Heath, after hearing the US premiere in Boston in 1976, said "I found it fascinating. … I liked the subject—one of the few instances of an important event in history where the British played no part. In the tragedy of Montezuma we share no responsibility".[7]
Notes
- ↑ Steinberg 1976, 15.
- ↑ Kessler 2008, 232-33.
- ↑ Prausnitz 2002, 292.
- ↑ Olmstead 2008, 329.
- ↑ "Program of first performance, Berlin, April 19, 1964", reprinted in the preface to the vocal score of the opera (New York: Marks Music Corporation, 1965); www.amadeusonline.net
- ↑ The spelling throughout the score and in the German cast list. The English cast list in the score misspells the name "Cuanuhtemoc". Olmstead 1985 consistently has "Cuahetemoc"; in Olmstead 2008, 335–37, the name is spelled as in the score.
- ↑ Soria 1976, MA-5.
Sources
- Anon. 1964. 'American Opera Staged in Berlin First'. The Times (6 May).
- Brody, Martin. 1992. 'Montezuma (ii)' in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, ed. Stanley Sadie (London) ISBN 0-333-73432-7
- Davies, Peter Maxwell. 1964a. 'Sessions's Opera Stirs Berliners: "Montezuma" Is Greeted by Violent Reactions'. New York Times (21 April).
- Davies, Peter Maxwell. 1964b. '"Montezuma" Creates a Stir in Berlin'. New York Times (3 May).
- Davis, Peter G. 1982. 'Montezuma's Revenge'. New York Magazine (8 March): 89.
- Harbison, John. 1977. "Roger Sessions and Montezuma". Tempo, new series, no. 121 (June): 2–5.
- Kessler, Daniel. 2008. Sarah Caldwell: The First Woman of Opera. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-5947-0 (cloth) ISBN 978-0-8108-6110-7 (pbk).
- Mason, Charles Norman. 1982. 'A Comprehensive Analysis of Roger Sessions' Opera Montezuma'. DMA diss. Urbana-Champaign: University of Illinois.
- Olmstead, Andrea. 1985. 'The Plum'd Serpent: Antonio Borgese's and Roger Sessions's Montezuma'. Tempo, new series, no. 152 (March): 13–22.
- Olmstead, Andrea. 2008. Roger Sessions: A Biography. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-97713-5 (hardback) ISBN 978-0-415-97714-2 (pbk.) ISBN 978-0-203-93147-9 (ebook)
- Porter, Andrew. 1978. 'The Matter of Mexico', in his Music of Three Seasons: 1974-1977, 337–44. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
- Porter, Andrew. 1982. 'A Magnificent Epic'. The New Yorker (March): 128 & 132.
- Prausnitz, Frederik. 2002. Roger Sessions: How a "Difficult" Composer Got That Way. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-510892-2
- Smith, Patrick J. 1976. 'Boston Opera: "Montezuma"'. High Fidelity/Musical America 26, no. 7 (July): MA-24.
- Soria, Dorle J. 1976. 'Artist Life'. High Fidelity/Musical America 26, no. 7 (July): MA-5 & MA-35.
- Steinberg, Michael. 1976. 'Enter Montezuma: Roger Sessions' Complex Opera Finally Gets Its U.S. Premiere in Boston—A Dozen Years after Its World Premiere in Berlin'. Opera News 40, no. 19 (April 3): 10–16.
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